Such fruit is conventionally harvested by a shaker system that straddles a row of plants to detach the harvest. The flow of harvest obtained is then conveyed in the machine to be stored in at least one hopper provided for this purpose or in an ancillary trailer.
However, by virtue of the action of shaker system, the flow of harvest comprises, in addition to the detached fruit, notably juice, leaves, stalks, particles of wood, bunches of fruit of varied sizes.
To eliminate components other than fruit, in particular leaves and pieces of wood, harvesting machines comprise a cleaning system that is provided to eliminate said components from the flow by suction before storage.
Harvesting machines may also carry a sorting device that notably enables separation of the harvested flow as a function of the size of the components of said flow. Thus by providing for such sorting prior to cleaning, it is possible to expose to suction only the portion comprising components of large size, in particular to prevent the elimination by suction of detached fruit.
To this end, the sorting device may comprise a motorised conveyor for moving the flow of harvest and a system for separating the components of said flow of harvest that is fed by said conveyor.
In particular, as the search for quality in the field of vinification requires the maximum elimination of green residue, notably leaf stalks, contained in the flow of harvest, the sorting device may be operable to enable such elimination. The harvesting machine may further comprise a destemming device enabling separation of the fruit attached to the bunch stalks in the flow of harvest.
For optimum sorting of the flow of harvest, the separation system of the sorting device must be fed as homogeneously as possible by the conveyor and with the best distribution. However, prior art conveyors are unable to provide such a feed in a satisfactory manner.